Huangxiu

Chapter 1161 Fighting for Credit
The city guards' primary function is defense, and the imperial city is of paramount importance.

Song Shoufang sighed, "It really needs a cleaning; it's a complete mess."

Chu Zhiyuan nodded in deep agreement.

The other four all nodded in agreement.

They were well aware of the situation outside, but without orders from above, they couldn't act rashly and could only watch helplessly.

Song Shoufang's gaze swept over Huang Zhengyang and Qi Chunyu: "How long will it take to clean it up?"

Huang Zhengyang and Qi Chunyu exchanged a glance, their eyes flickering.

Huang Zhengyang said in a deep voice, "About a month."

"It'll take this long?" Song Shoufang frowned.

Qi Chunyu hurriedly said, "Your Highness, the evil spirits who dare to come to the capital are not easy to deal with. The two departments cannot form an overwhelming force by simply mobilizing experts from within a thousand miles. If we want to completely wipe them out from both inside and outside, we cannot be rash. Otherwise, I'm afraid... the casualties will be considerable."

“One month…” Song Shoufang pondered.

The old man, Zhou Jin, who had been silent all along and had been smiling, stroked his beard and said, "A month is too long. If it drags on for so long, it will cause too many civilian casualties. It would be best to wipe them out in one fell swoop with the force of a thunderbolt."

“Mr. Zhou,” Huang Zhengyang hurriedly said, “we would love to crush them to death, but we must not rush things.”

Qi Chunyu said, "Countless lessons have taught us that the more anxious you are, the easier it is for someone to exploit a loophole, leading to a large number of casualties."

Song Shoufang looked at General Zhao Wuyou and asked, "General Zhao, should your city guards send some experts to help them?"

Zhao Wuyou immediately looked troubled and said with a wry smile, "Your Highness..."

“Your Highness, General Zhao is also in a dilemma.” Zhou Jin stroked his beard and sighed, “Both the city gates and the city inside need to be strictly guarded. We are afraid that they will resort to desperate measures at the former, and we need to guard against petty thieves taking advantage of the chaos at the latter. If there is chaos in the city, the impact will be too great.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Zhao Wuyou nodded repeatedly.

Song Shoufang glared at him.

Zhao Wuyou smiled ingratiatingly.

Chu Zhiyuan said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, our sect can send out experts to assist us!"

The imperial court is about to launch a large-scale purge of evil spirits, which is bound to cause a great stir.

At this point, other sects will likely make their move.

The imperial court had previously offered rewards to various martial arts sects, asking them to deal with the evil forces, essentially using martial arts masters as a vanguard to wear them down.

At that time, if the masters of the martial arts sects were to be dispatched, the losses would indeed be enormous, and the gains would not outweigh the losses.

Even though the Heavenly Sword Sect is one of the four major sects, it is not advisable for them to act rashly.

Now that the imperial court has mobilized the Exorcism Bureau and the Demon Exorcism Bureau, if martial arts masters were to be dispatched again, they would rise like a whirlwind.

There are many benefits to exerting your efforts at this time.

First, it increases the court's goodwill towards the sects.

This goodwill is an immeasurable benefit; it may be useless, or it may be immensely beneficial.

The second benefit is to take the opportunity to enhance the public's goodwill towards the sect.

The benefits of this goodwill are quite direct.

This will encourage more young people to join their sect, ensuring the sect's prosperity and continuation.

Any sect leader or headmaster with even a little foresight would participate without hesitation.

Although he was not the sect leader and should not have been able to make decisions, he couldn't care less about such a huge amount of money involved.

All eyes turned to Chu Zhiyuan.

Huang Zhengyang said, "Mr. Chu, can you make a decision on behalf of the Heavenly Sword Sect?"

Qi Chunyu gently shook his head and said, "The martial arts sects had tried to take action before, but it was to no avail, so they all retreated."

Chu Zhiyuan's expression was solemn as he slowly said, "Our sect has been focused on eradicating the Azure Lotus Sea. We originally planned to concentrate our efforts to assist the imperial court in eliminating the demons after we finished eradicating the Azure Lotus Sea, but we never expected..."

Huang Zhengyang chuckled: "Mr. Chu, isn't what you're saying a little untrue?"

Chu Zhiyuan said, "There's been a change in the Azure Lotus Sea, so we'll put it aside for now. The demons have already deteriorated to this point, so we have no choice but to take action... The sect leader has sent me ahead to investigate the demons outside the imperial city before deciding on a large-scale operation!"

He believed that his words would be explained away by the sect leader, Lu Wanshan.

"Hehe..." Qi Chunyu shook his head with a smile: "Mr. Chu, what you said..." Chu Zhiyuan said: "Although I am not very talented, I have completed the task assigned by the sect and have initially figured out the details of the evil sects around the imperial city."

"You've figured it out?" Qi Chunyu raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it."

He didn't believe Chu Zhiyuan had such strength.

Even their Demon Extermination Division couldn't figure out the details of these evil sects.

It was too closed off, and it was difficult to capture prisoners alive; even if prisoners were captured, it was difficult to obtain intelligence.

Chu Zhiyuan smiled and looked at Prince Zhuang, Song Shoufang: "Your Highness, besides our sect, the other three sects are also eager to make a move. They can no longer tolerate the evil forces running rampant outside the capital. Even if the court does not act, they will soon join forces with our sect to deal with them!"

Such a good thing shouldn't be enjoyed alone. Bringing in the other three groups as well, seemingly sharing the benefits, also helps to share the risks.

Only the Heavenly Sword Sect behaved in such an ugly way.

More importantly, by this time, the four major sects of the martial arts world had become rivals with the Exorcism Division and the Demon Exorcism Division.

They will compete for credit.

The Heavenly Sword Sect alone is weak and isolated; it needs to bring in the other three major sects.

Huang Zhengyang said, "With our Demon Extermination Division and Monster Extermination Division taking action, that should be enough."

Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "With the experts from our four sects mobilized, we won't have to hold the city guards back."

He looked at Zhao Wuyou as he spoke.

Zhao Wuyou hurriedly replied, "Yes, we do need more experts now. The experts from the four major sects are not only strong but also trustworthy."

At this time, it would be best not to use the city guards. The princes and court officials have seen their hard work over the past year, and there is no need for them to earn more credit now.

At this point, the fear is even greater that something might go wrong, which would wipe out all previous efforts.

If we simply stabilize the situation honestly, we will achieve great success and need not do anything else.

By involving the four major sects, we can both share the credit of the Evil Extermination Division and the Demon Extermination Division, and also reciprocate Chu Zhiyuan's previous assistance.

Song Shoufang said slowly, "Over the past few days, Xiao Chu, your achievements have been truly remarkable. You have not only killed many demons but also figured out their current schemes. You have accomplished what others cannot. You truly deserve to be a top disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect. ... In that case, why don't you four major sects also send experts to help us?"

Huang Zhengyang and Qi Chunyu looked helpless.

Chu Zhiyuan's ability to obtain the demonic plot is indeed a great achievement.

Because of his merit, the four major sects were qualified to share the spoils.

The prince's decision left no room for argument; after all, his subordinates were utterly incompetent and useless.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Chu Zhiyuan solemnly clasped his hands in thanks. "Your Highness, rest assured, we will proceed steadily and cautiously, focusing on only one route and will not be greedy for credit or cause trouble."

This was intended to dispel Huang Zhengyang and Qi Chunyu's guard.

After all, they are the Exorcising Evil Division and the Exorcising Demon Division, so even if they are vying for credit, they should not make enemies.

Song Shoufang nodded: "Your four major sects are generally reliable. Which path do you want to take?"

"Let's go due south," Chu Zhiyuan said. "Our four sects will clear out the demons within three hundred miles outside the south gate."

"So good."

Huang Zhengyang and Qi Chunyu nodded in satisfaction and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Chu Zhiyuan at least knew his place and didn't become arrogant.

Song Shoufang said slowly, "Then it's settled. Mobilize your manpower as soon as possible and get to work."

"Yes!" Chu Zhiyuan and the others clasped their hands in a fist salute and solemnly agreed.

He vaguely understood why Song Shoufang had sought him out instead of Gu Junqi.

This is a warning to everyone.

This was a warning not only to the Demon Extermination Bureau and the Evil Extermination Bureau, but also to the Four Great Sects.

By not sending Gu Junqi but himself, he was indicating that the participation of the four major sects in this operation was not due to their status, but rather to his own contributions.

He expressed his dissatisfaction that he had not previously asked his disciples for help.

It was also a slap in the face to the Demon Extermination Bureau and the Evil Extermination Bureau, expressing dissatisfaction with their incompetence.

(End of this chapter)